[{"body":"\nPreface\nThis monograph by Artur Artemyev, professor and religious scholar from Kazakhstan with a PhD in philosophy, focuses on a historical and theological investigation of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ life and worship in Kazakhstan.\nThere are two previous editions of the monograph Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Historical and Theological Analysis. The first edition was published in 2002 and the second edition in 2010. In the last few years, this religious organization has undergone many changes. Therefore, the author considered it necessary to prepare a new edition of the monograph focusing on Kazakhstan only.\nThis work is mainly addressed to lecturers of religious studies, master’s degree students, teachers, and government officials who implement policies in relation to neo-Protestant denominations and new religious organizations.\nThe easy-to-comprehend presentation of the material also makes this monograph appealing to non-specialist readers interested in modern religion.\nContents\nTo the readers, or Instead of a preface Chapter 1. History of the World Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses Chapter 2. Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazakhstan. Historical digression Chapter 3. What Jehovah's Witnesses Believe, or the Basics of Doctrine Chapter 4. The structure and structure of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses Chapter 5. The system of theocratic education. Attitudes towards secular education Chapter 6. Features of the Religious Consciousness and Lifestyle of Jehovah's Witnesses Chapter 7. From tolerance to persecution, from religious tolerance to anti-cultism. And also to the question of terminological correctness Conclusion About the author ","date":"2025-01-03T14:31:27+02:00","permalink":"/en/docs/120.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Artemyev A. Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazakhstan: Socio-Historical and Religious Analysis","type":"docs"},{"body":"\nPreface\nThis monograph is by Artur Artemyev, professor and religious scholar from Kazakhstan. He holds a PhD in philosophy and in this work focuses on a historical and theological investigation of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ life and worship in Uzbekistan. Prior to that, the author published two editions (2002 and 2010) \"Jehovah's Witnesses of Kazakhstan and Central Asia: A Historical and Religious Analysis\", but the author considered it necessary to prepare a new version, limiting it to local realities. This work is mainly addressed to lecturers of religious studies, master’s degree students, teachers, and government officials who implement policies in relation to neo-Protestant denominations and new religious organizations. The easy-to-comprehend presentation of the material also makes this monograph appealing to nonspecialist readers interested in modern religion.\nContents\nTo the Reader Chapter 1. The History of the Worldwide Religious Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses Chapter 2. Jehovah’s Witnesses in Uzbekistan—Historical Overview Chapter 3. Foundation of the Teachings—What Do Jehovah’s WitnessesBelieve? Chapter 4. Structure of the Organization Chapter 5. Jehovah’s Witnesses’ View of Education in Congregation and in Family Chapter 6. A Glimpse of the History of the Thorny Way to Tolerance Chapter 7. On the Question of Terminological Correctness Conclusion Brief Chronology of the History of the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses About The Author ","date":"2025-01-03T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/640.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Artemyev A. Socio-historical and Theological Analysis of Communities of  Jehovah's Witnesses in Uzbekistan","type":"docs"},{"body":"With the judge's permission, Galina Komissarova reads excerpts from the publications of two religious scholars, Nikolai Gordienko and Sergey Ivanenko, and comments on them. The believer also tells how biblical knowledge helped her in raising her own children.\n","caseTitle":"The Case of Komissarova in Tolyatti","date":"2024-06-17T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/cases/tolyatti6/index.html#20240617","regions":["samara"],"tags":["first-instance","elderly","interrogation","scholar-publications"],"type":"timeline"},{"body":"In 2019, several articles in the information and analytical journal \"Religion and Law\" were devoted to Jehovah's Witnesses. What do you need to know about Jehovah's Witnesses, who have been subjected to large-scale persecution in Russia since 2017? Religious scholar, Doctor of Philosophy, State Counselor of the Russian Federation of the 1st class Sergey Ivanenko in the article sets out the quintessence of his more than 30-year study of this religion.\n","date":"2023-04-13T11:01:13+03:00","permalink":"/en/docs/287.html","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Ivanenko S. Some Features of the Doctrine and Social Practice of Jehovah's Witnesses","type":"docs"},{"body":"In 2019, several articles in the information and analytical journal \"Religion and Law\" were devoted to Jehovah's Witnesses. Roman Lunkin, Doctor of Political Sciences, Head of the Center for the Study of Problems of Religion and Society at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Modern Europe, in his article analyzed in detail how the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia has unfolded over the past 25 years.\n","date":"2023-04-06T11:32:10+03:00","permalink":"/en/docs/285.html","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Lunkin R. Campaign Against a Religious Minority: A Dangerous Game on the Feelings of Believers","type":"docs"},{"body":"In 2019, several articles in the information and analytical journal \"Religion and Law\" were devoted to Jehovah's Witnesses. The editor-in-chief of the journal, Doctor of Law, Professor, Honorary Advocate of Russia Anatoly Pchelintsev, in an editorial in issue No. 1 (85) of 2019, analyzed the concept of \"freedom of conscience\" and spoke about the history of his acquaintance with the intolerant attitude towards the followers of this religion.\n","date":"2023-03-29T14:18:44+03:00","permalink":"/en/docs/282.html","regions":["moscow"],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Pchelintsev A. Editor-in-chief's column. That sweet word is \"freedom of conscience.\"","type":"docs"},{"body":"The collection is devoted to the history of the religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses. It traces the path of its formation from a small circle of like-minded people devoted to the study of the Bible, to one of the largest international religious organizations operating in more than 200 countries and numbering over 6 million people.\nThe book tells in more detail about the appearance of this religion in the Russian Empire at the end of the XIX century and its subsequent spread in the Soviet Union. The main attention is paid to the period of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and after the war decades, up to the era of \"perestroika and glasnost\" in the USSR, as well as the state and activities of Jehovah's Witnesses associations in the Russian Federation in the 90s of the XX century.\nThe collection includes more than 60 documents and materials from various state archives of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Moldova. First of all, they concern two sad dates in the post-war history of Russian Jehovah's Witnesses – the mass deportations of believers in 1949 and 1951 to Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Far East. Archival documents enable readers to come into direct contact with the history of the life of believers in places of special settlement and in those areas where they were allowed to live after the end of exile, and in addition, learn about the Soviet policy towards believers, religions and religious associations.\nThe book will be of interest to members of Jehovah's Witnesses associations and believers of other religious associations operating in the Russian Federation. It will be of interest to historians, religious scholars, students and pupils of schools that learn the national history of the XX century.\nIt will be extremely useful for state and municipal employees who practically implement the religious policy of the state and maintain relations with religious associations.\n","date":"2020-06-18T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/24.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Odintsov M. The Council of Ministers of the USSR decides: \"evict forever!\": Collection of documents and materials about Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union (1951 - 1985)","type":"docs"},{"body":"\nCONTENT\nBerezhko K. A., Slupina V. The Origins of the Jehovah's Witnesses Movement in the USSR\nGorbatov A. V. Jehovah's Witnesses in Siberia. 1951–1970\nDudaryonok S. M. Jehovah's Witnesses in the Russian Far East. 1944–1990\nGutshmidt V. G. Vera, obrechennaya dorogoy tsena. Autobiography\nLeontiev A. E. History of Golovin's Trial to Liquidate the Moscow Jehovah's Witnesses Community and Its Assessment in the European Court of Human Rights\nBelenko I. V. Regulation of missionary activity and definition of the problem of proselytism and sacrilege. Experience of foreign countries\nDocument. U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Watch Tower, Bible, and Tract Society New York et al. v. Stratton Village et al.\nAntonov A. I., Medkov V. M. Scientific Conclusion on the Results of a Sociological Study of the Religious Community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow\nKhalikov F. Procedure for Recognition of Materials as Extremist: Analysis, Criticism, Suggestions\nBelenko I. V. Expert Evaluation of Religious Texts, Sayings and Illustrations for Incitement of Hatred\nDocument. Conclusion of the Commission of Experts of the Main Directorate of the RFTSSE under the Ministry of Justice of Russia\nOdintsov M. I. Transcript of the speech in the debate as a defender in criminal case No. 1-376/10 against A. V. Kalistratov, accused of committing a crime under Article 282 (part 1) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation\nBelenko I. V., Odintsov M. I. Bibliography on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in the world and in Russia\nStatistical information on the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in the world and in Russia\n","date":"2015-09-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/1.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Freedom of Conscience in Russia: Historical and Modern Aspects. Issue 9","type":"docs"},{"body":"Full text of the book in PDF format (24 MB)\nINSTEAD OF AN INTRODUCTION\nThree circumstances prompted me to write this small book.\nFirst: the absolutely unimaginable avalanche of negative materials that almost daily falls on the average person through the media about the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses - a world Christian organization operating in 236 countries of the world and already having more than 7 million active members (\"publishers\") or more than 17 million followers (\"publishers\" together with sympathizers).\nFor reference, I will say that in Soviet times this church was banned as anti-Soviet, and the local communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were underground (although the legalization process began during perestroika, but it was never completed).\nBut new times have come: Kazakhstan has become an independent state that has constitutionally proclaimed the secular, democratic principles of its construction, the main of which are freedom of conscience and equality of all faiths and denominations before the Law.\nJehovah's Witnesses, like some other \"persecuted\" denominations, came out of hiding and officially registered their communities in accordance with the requirements of the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Associations.\nIt would seem that all the dots over the \"i\" were placed.\nUnfortunately, religious tolerance and harmony did not last long. The harassment campaign has already swept not only the media. Trials began, moreover, on the most ridiculous charges.\nHere is just one example. The program \"Zheti Kun\" on the TV channel \"Khabar\" (Kazakhstan) aired an article about how a young man appealed to the prosecutor's office of the city of Taraz with a statement against his parents, who allegedly \"encroached on his civil rights\", forcing him to visit the community of Jehovah's Witnesses. As it was said, it was this letter that served as the reason for the prosecutor's office to appeal to the court with a statement of claim to invalidate the registration of this religious community.\nLet's leave aside the moral aspect of the young man's act and the involuntary associations with the pioneer heroes that it evokes. Let's just ask, what does the religious community have to do with it? If parents forced their son, against his wishes, to join a pro-government party, would the prosecutor file a lawsuit to ban the activities of its local branch?\nI think the question is rhetorical.\nThey tried to convince us that believers receive instructions for such treatment of children from their spiritual mentors, and the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses contains calls for abuse by parents of their children. But this is absurd! You don't need to be a religious scholar to be convinced of the inconsistency of such statements. An elementary acquaintance with the mass publications of Jehovah's Witnesses is enough. As M. Y. Lermontov once said, \"all this would be funny if it were not so sad.\" But in this situation, it is not only sad ... For all this is already becoming widespread.\nSo, it is necessary to understand how justified other accusations against Jehovah's Witnesses are, how legitimate is the campaign directed against the followers of this creed.\nSecond, the extremely negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses of many even very educated people who in other situations are not averse to speculating about tolerance, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. Why did they succumb to propaganda directed against Jehovah's Witnesses and often advocate banning the activities of this religious organization?\nHaving pondered this phenomenon for a long time, I have found no other explanation than the lack of objective information.\nRussian scientists have already made some efforts to change this situation. Two very informative works were published there: Doctor of Philosophy, Professor N. S. Gordienko \"Russian Jehovah's Witnesses: History and Modernity\" and Candidate of Philosophical Sciences S. I. Ivanenko \"On People Who Never Part with the Bible\" (recently Sergey Igorevich defended his dissertation \"The Evolution of the Ideology and Activities of the Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia\" and became a Doctor of Philosophy). We do not have such studies yet.\nAnd thirdly, having been studying religions for almost thirty years, Jehovah's Witnesses remained something of a \"blank spot\" for me, although I naturally had a general idea of this confession. Hence the desire to somewhat deepen their knowledge, having understood in detail the history, doctrine, cult practice and current state of the world Christian organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. And there is no better way than to sit down and start writing a book, in my opinion.\nAt first, I intended to limit myself to materials on Kazakhstan. But the deeper I began to delve into the problem, the more I became convinced that the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazakhstan is closely intertwined with the history of the spread of this creed throughout the Central Asian region: it is impossible to write about Kazakhstan without touching on the state of affairs in the countries of Central Asia. Therefore, the geography of the study was expanded.\nAnd one more point that needs to be highlighted.\nNot only am I not a follower of the Jehovah's Witnesses' creed, but I also cannot consider myself a believer at all, since I do not belong to any denomination or denomination.\nIn this regard, one episode comes to mind. I happened to be in London. The hospitable hosts decided to show not only the capital, but also the country and offered a trip to the lakes that are located on the very border of England with Scotland. The famous Russian poetess Lydia Grigorieva, who has been living in London for several years, went with us, as her husband, a talented writer, journalist, poet Ravil Bukharaev, works for the BBC. And so, walking and admiring the beauty of the lakes, Lydia suddenly asked me:\n- You are engaged in the philosophy of religion, and you yourself are a believer?\n\"Me?\" \"No,\" I replied.\n\"How, then, can you study religion?\"\n- You know, Lydia, I am deeply convinced that only a person who does not belong to any denomination can be a religious scholar. Imagine if I were, for example, Orthodox or Muslim, could I objectively write about other religious movements?\nA pause followed... We did not touch on this topic again.\nIn Kazakhstan, that year, a noisy campaign began to revise the legislation on freedom of religion and religious associations in the direction of its tightening (which, unfortunately, has not ended even today).\nNeither civil principles nor professional conscience allowed me to stand aside, so when I returned to Almaty, I wrote an article in the magazine \"Sayasat\", in which I sharply opposed the constant \"shyness\" of the state in relations with religious associations: from ensuring freedom of conscience to rough administration and legislative tightening. In it, he tried to protect such denominations and denominations as Jehovah's Witnesses, Bahay, Ahmadi and others from unfounded attacks. I sent the published article to Lydia with the inscription: \"In continuation of our dialogue on the lakes.\"\nI am deeply convinced that unbelief is not lack of spirituality. If a person deeply believes in God and it helps him in life, that's great!\nIt is frightening when a person is spiritually devastated, when instead of spiritual values there is moral decay, cynicism, complete degradation.\nAnd to choose between faith and unbelief is everyone's right.\nI am impressed by the point of view of Jehovah's Witnesses:\n\"To understand what another person believes is not to share his beliefs and follow them, and to acquaint him is not to convert to one's faith.\" It is important to be able to respect each other's views.\nBut back to our main topic.\nSo, who are Jehovah's Witnesses? What kind of Christian world organization unites them? And how is it represented in Kazakhstan and Central Asia?\n[...]\nFull text of the book in PDF format (24 MB)\n","category":"opinions","date":"2015-08-01T14:00:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2015/08/27/book-1_hu_8df3e2f0d5488615.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2015/08/27/book-1.jpg","webp":"/news/2015/08/27/book-1_hu_de7a5fb801db93e4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2015/08/27/book-1_hu_6ddc26b4cb3b52fa.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2015/08/27.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["scholar-publications","human-rights-defenders"],"title":"Artemyev A. Jehovah's Witnesses of Kazakhstan and Central Asia: Historical and Religious Analysis","type":"news"},{"body":"\nINSTEAD OF AN INTRODUCTION\nThree circumstances prompted me to write this small book.\nFirst: the absolutely unimaginable avalanche of negative materials that almost daily falls on the average person through the media about the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses - a world Christian organization operating in 236 countries of the world and already having more than 7 million active members (\"publishers\") or more than 17 million followers (\"publishers\" together with sympathizers).\nFor reference, I will say that in Soviet times this church was banned as anti-Soviet, and the local communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were underground (although the legalization process began during perestroika, but it was never completed).\nBut new times have come: Kazakhstan has become an independent state that has constitutionally proclaimed the secular, democratic principles of its construction, the main of which are freedom of conscience and equality of all faiths and denominations before the Law.\nJehovah's Witnesses, like some other \"persecuted\" denominations, came out of hiding and officially registered their communities in accordance with the requirements of the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Associations.\nIt would seem that all the dots over the \"i\" were placed.\nUnfortunately, religious tolerance and harmony did not last long. The harassment campaign has already swept not only the media. Trials began, moreover, on the most ridiculous charges.\nHere is just one example. The program \"Zheti Kun\" on the TV channel \"Khabar\" (Kazakhstan) aired an article about how a young man appealed to the prosecutor's office of the city of Taraz with a statement against his parents, who allegedly \"encroached on his civil rights\", forcing him to visit the community of Jehovah's Witnesses. As it was said, it was this letter that served as the reason for the prosecutor's office to appeal to the court with a statement of claim to invalidate the registration of this religious community.\nLet's leave aside the moral aspect of the young man's act and the involuntary associations with the pioneer heroes that it evokes. Let's just ask, what does the religious community have to do with it? If parents forced their son, against his wishes, to join a pro-government party, would the prosecutor file a lawsuit to ban the activities of its local branch?\nI think the question is rhetorical.\nThey tried to convince us that believers receive instructions for such treatment of children from their spiritual mentors, and the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses contains calls for abuse by parents of their children. But this is absurd! You don't need to be a religious scholar to be convinced of the inconsistency of such statements. An elementary acquaintance with the mass publications of Jehovah's Witnesses is enough. As M. Y. Lermontov once said, \"all this would be funny if it were not so sad.\" But in this situation, it is not only sad ... For all this is already becoming widespread.\nSo, it is necessary to understand how justified other accusations against Jehovah's Witnesses are, how legitimate is the campaign directed against the followers of this creed.\nSecond, the extremely negative attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses of many even very educated people who in other situations are not averse to speculating about tolerance, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. Why did they succumb to propaganda directed against Jehovah's Witnesses and often advocate banning the activities of this religious organization?\nHaving pondered this phenomenon for a long time, I have found no other explanation than the lack of objective information.\nRussian scientists have already made some efforts to change this situation. Two very informative works were published there: Doctor of Philosophy, Professor N. S. Gordienko \"Russian Jehovah's Witnesses: History and Modernity\" and Candidate of Philosophical Sciences S. I. Ivanenko \"On People Who Never Part with the Bible\" (recently Sergey Igorevich defended his dissertation \"The Evolution of the Ideology and Activities of the Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia\" and became a Doctor of Philosophy). We do not have such studies yet.\nAnd thirdly, having been studying religions for almost thirty years, Jehovah's Witnesses remained something of a \"blank spot\" for me, although I naturally had a general idea of this confession. Hence the desire to somewhat deepen their knowledge, having understood in detail the history, doctrine, cult practice and current state of the world Christian organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. And there is no better way than to sit down and start writing a book, in my opinion.\nAt first, I intended to limit myself to materials on Kazakhstan. But the deeper I began to delve into the problem, the more I became convinced that the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kazakhstan is closely intertwined with the history of the spread of this creed throughout the Central Asian region: it is impossible to write about Kazakhstan without touching on the state of affairs in the countries of Central Asia. Therefore, the geography of the study was expanded.\nAnd one more point that needs to be highlighted.\nNot only am I not a follower of the Jehovah's Witnesses' creed, but I also cannot consider myself a believer at all, since I do not belong to any denomination or denomination.\nIn this regard, one episode comes to mind. I happened to be in London. The hospitable hosts decided to show not only the capital, but also the country and offered a trip to the lakes that are located on the very border of England with Scotland. The famous Russian poetess Lydia Grigorieva, who has been living in London for several years, went with us, as her husband, a talented writer, journalist, poet Ravil Bukharaev, works for the BBC. And so, walking and admiring the beauty of the lakes, Lydia suddenly asked me:\n- You are engaged in the philosophy of religion, and you yourself are a believer?\n\"Me?\" \"No,\" I replied.\n\"How, then, can you study religion?\"\n- You know, Lydia, I am deeply convinced that only a person who does not belong to any denomination can be a religious scholar. Imagine if I were, for example, Orthodox or Muslim, could I objectively write about other religious movements?\nA pause followed... We did not touch on this topic again.\nIn Kazakhstan, that year, a noisy campaign began to revise the legislation on freedom of religion and religious associations in the direction of its tightening (which, unfortunately, has not ended even today).\nNeither civil principles nor professional conscience allowed me to stand aside, so when I returned to Almaty, I wrote an article in the magazine \"Sayasat\", in which I sharply opposed the constant \"shyness\" of the state in relations with religious associations: from ensuring freedom of conscience to rough administration and legislative tightening. In it, he tried to protect such denominations and denominations as Jehovah's Witnesses, Bahay, Ahmadi and others from unfounded attacks. I sent the published article to Lydia with the inscription: \"In continuation of our dialogue on the lakes.\"\nI am deeply convinced that unbelief is not lack of spirituality. If a person deeply believes in God and it helps him in life, that's great!\nIt is frightening when a person is spiritually devastated, when instead of spiritual values there is moral decay, cynicism, complete degradation.\nAnd to choose between faith and unbelief is everyone's right.\nI am impressed by the point of view of Jehovah's Witnesses:\n\"To understand what another person believes is not to share his beliefs and follow them, and to acquaint him is not to convert to one's faith.\" It is important to be able to respect each other's views.\nBut back to our main topic.\nSo, who are Jehovah's Witnesses? What kind of Christian world organization unites them? And how is it represented in Kazakhstan and Central Asia?\n[...]\n","date":"2015-08-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/2.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Artemyev A. Jehovah's Witnesses of Kazakhstan and Central Asia: Historical and Religious Analysis","type":"docs"},{"body":"Full text of the book in PDF format (17 MB)\nINTRODUCTION\nThe socio-economic transformation of Russian society, which began in the mid-80s of the XX century, led to significant changes in the religious life of the country, one of the aspects of which was the increase in the number of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. In a relatively short period of time, Jehovah's Witnesses turned from a relatively small religious organization operating underground into a large religious association, one of the most numerous movements of late Protestantism in Russia.\nThe authors of works devoted to criticism of the ideology and activities of Jehovah's Witnesses published in the former USSR were forced to take into account the assessment of this religious organization, contained, in particular, in a note by the Ministry of State Security of the USSR to J. V. Stalin, in which Jehovah's Witnesses were characterized as an \"anti-Soviet sect\", used in publications throughout most of the Soviet period.\nUnder the influence of the negative attitude towards the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses on the part of the authorities, the version that the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses and this religious organization itself was created on the direct instructions of the imperialist bourgeoisie with the aim of opposing the world revolutionary movement and the socialist system became widespread in atheistic publications. At the same time, in the most informative works published during the Soviet period, the social origins of the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses were analyzed, they contained valuable factual material characterizing the forms and methods of ideological work with the followers of this religious organization.\nAt the end of the 80s, religious scholars attempted to summarize the main results of the evolution of Protestant communities in the USSR, and within the framework of the research, the situation of Jehovah's Witnesses was also analyzed. According to the results obtained, the Protestant communities in the USSR intensively lost their sectarian characteristics.\nThe conclusion that the Protestant communities in the USSR gradually lost the features typical of sectarian religious organizations and that this process to a certain extent affected the communities of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR, seems important and methodologically fruitful for assessing the ideology and activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in subsequent years, after the collapse of the USSR, in conditions of freedom of conscience.\nIn the 90s of the XX century, two approaches began to dominate in the study of the ideology of Jehovah's Witnesses: the first is scientific, religious studies and the second approach, confessional-accusatory, based on the principles of the so-called \"anti-cult movement\".\nThe study of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses from a scientific and religious perspective was carried out by V. I. Garadzha, N. S. Gordienko, I. Y. Kanterov, the staff of the Department of Religious Studies of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (in 1994-2002 headed by Prof. N. A. Trofimchuk) and other researchers. Their textbooks and reference books and other publications contained an objective assessment of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses as one of the later movements in Protestantism.\nIn 2000, one of the first monographs in post-Soviet Russia was published containing objective religious information about the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses - the book \"Russian Jehovah's Witnesses: History and Modernity\" by the famous Russian religious scholar N. S. Gordienko.\nAs N. S. Gordienko argues, Jehovah's Witnesses are \"a normal religious organization - a confession,\" and it should be treated with the same tolerance as other confessions and denominations that legally exist in Russia and operate within the framework of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\nThe second approach to assessing the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses was formed on the basis of the so-called \"anti-cult movement\", which is an alliance of heterogeneous confessional, political and other forces that oppose the application of the principle of equality of all religious organizations before the law to those religious movements that are arbitrarily, regardless of scientific religious criteria, declared \"totalitarian sects.\" Works based on the use of such categories as \"totalitarian sects\", \"destructive cults\", etc., as a rule, do not contain objective and reliable information, including about the ideology and activities of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, and can provoke interfaith confrontation.\nIt is essential that some religious organizations are formed as a denomination from the very beginning of their emergence, while others turn into a denomination, transforming from other types of religious organizations. As this book shows, a religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (Bible Students) can be characterized as an organization that has been a denomination since its inception and throughout its evolution.\nIn working on this topic, the author used archival materials, including the current archive of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, scientific literature, as well as theological works and publications in the publications of the Watch Tower Society devoted to the history and current state of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the former USSR and in Russia, the authors of which, being participants in the most important events in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, seek to explain it from the point of view of the Bible and reveal the main content of the preaching activity of Jehovah's Witnesses in different periods.\nThe attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses on the part of society and the state remains ambiguous at present. Some consider them a dangerous sect, others a Christian religious organization that educates believers in accordance with biblical principles. The main purpose of this book is to help those who would like to form their own opinion based on the facts studied by religious studies to understand the real situation.\nFull text of the book in PDF format (17 MB)\n","category":"opinions","date":"2015-07-01T14:00:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2015/07/28/book-4_hu_5b570d1884935cd0.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2015/07/28/book-4.jpg","webp":"/news/2015/07/28/book-4_hu_fa1f5573af0214cc.webp","webp2x":"/news/2015/07/28/book-4_hu_ae0737c7be06439.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2015/07/28.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["scholar-publications","human-rights-defenders"],"title":"Ivanenko S. Jehovah's Witnesses — A Traditional Russian Religious Organization","type":"news"},{"body":"\nINTRODUCTION\nThe socio-economic transformation of Russian society, which began in the mid-80s of the XX century, led to significant changes in the religious life of the country, one of the aspects of which was the increase in the number of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. In a relatively short period of time, Jehovah's Witnesses turned from a relatively small religious organization operating underground into a large religious association, one of the most numerous movements of late Protestantism in Russia.\nThe authors of works devoted to criticism of the ideology and activities of Jehovah's Witnesses published in the former USSR were forced to take into account the assessment of this religious organization, contained, in particular, in a note by the Ministry of State Security of the USSR to J. V. Stalin, in which Jehovah's Witnesses were characterized as an \"anti-Soviet sect\", used in publications throughout most of the Soviet period.\nUnder the influence of the negative attitude towards the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses on the part of the authorities, the version that the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses and this religious organization itself was created on the direct instructions of the imperialist bourgeoisie with the aim of opposing the world revolutionary movement and the socialist system became widespread in atheistic publications. At the same time, in the most informative works published during the Soviet period, the social origins of the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses were analyzed, they contained valuable factual material characterizing the forms and methods of ideological work with the followers of this religious organization.\nAt the end of the 80s, religious scholars attempted to summarize the main results of the evolution of Protestant communities in the USSR, and within the framework of the research, the situation of Jehovah's Witnesses was also analyzed. According to the results obtained, the Protestant communities in the USSR intensively lost their sectarian characteristics.\nThe conclusion that the Protestant communities in the USSR gradually lost the features typical of sectarian religious organizations and that this process to a certain extent affected the communities of Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR, seems important and methodologically fruitful for assessing the ideology and activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in subsequent years, after the collapse of the USSR, in conditions of freedom of conscience.\nIn the 90s of the XX century, two approaches began to dominate in the study of the ideology of Jehovah's Witnesses: the first is scientific, religious studies and the second approach, confessional-accusatory, based on the principles of the so-called \"anti-cult movement\".\nThe study of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses from a scientific and religious perspective was carried out by V. I. Garadzha, N. S. Gordienko, I. Y. Kanterov, the staff of the Department of Religious Studies of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (in 1994-2002 headed by Prof. N. A. Trofimchuk) and other researchers. Their textbooks and reference books and other publications contained an objective assessment of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses as one of the later movements in Protestantism.\nIn 2000, one of the first monographs in post-Soviet Russia was published containing objective religious information about the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses - the book \"Russian Jehovah's Witnesses: History and Modernity\" by the famous Russian religious scholar N. S. Gordienko.\nAs N. S. Gordienko argues, Jehovah's Witnesses are \"a normal religious organization - a confession,\" and it should be treated with the same tolerance as other confessions and denominations that legally exist in Russia and operate within the framework of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.\nThe second approach to assessing the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses was formed on the basis of the so-called \"anti-cult movement\", which is an alliance of heterogeneous confessional, political and other forces that oppose the application of the principle of equality of all religious organizations before the law to those religious movements that are arbitrarily, regardless of scientific religious criteria, declared \"totalitarian sects.\" Works based on the use of such categories as \"totalitarian sects\", \"destructive cults\", etc., as a rule, do not contain objective and reliable information, including about the ideology and activities of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, and can provoke interfaith confrontation.\nIt is essential that some religious organizations are formed as a denomination from the very beginning of their emergence, while others turn into a denomination, transforming from other types of religious organizations. As this book shows, a religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (Bible Students) can be characterized as an organization that has been a denomination since its inception and throughout its evolution.\nIn working on this topic, the author used archival materials, including the current archive of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, scientific literature, as well as theological works and publications in the publications of the Watch Tower Society devoted to the history and current state of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the former USSR and in Russia, the authors of which, being participants in the most important events in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, seek to explain it from the point of view of the Bible and reveal the main content of the preaching activity of Jehovah's Witnesses in different periods.\nThe attitude towards Jehovah's Witnesses on the part of society and the state remains ambiguous at present. Some consider them a dangerous sect, others a Christian religious organization that educates believers in accordance with biblical principles. The main purpose of this book is to help those who would like to form their own opinion based on the facts studied by religious studies to understand the real situation.\n","date":"2015-07-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/3.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Ivanenko S. Jehovah's Witnesses — A Traditional Russian Religious Organization","type":"docs"},{"body":"Page. 45\n«... I want to be understood correctly: no one obliges Jehovah's Witnesses to carry the Bible with them. It is not their religious duty. And perhaps some of them do not take the Bible with them in some cases. At the same time, the need to check one's actions against biblical principles and preach by appealing to the Bible is so significant for most of Jehovah's Witnesses that I personally have not yet been able to meet any of them without the Bible.\nA New Yorker told me that one day she left the house with a heavy bag and decided not to take the Bible with her. On the way, she struck up a conversation with a random interlocutor about understanding a Bible text and mentioned that she was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but now she did not have a Bible with her. \"You are not telling the truth,\" the man said, \"Jehovah's Witnesses never part with the Bible.\" \"I became very ashamed,\" the woman recalled, \"and now I always carry the Bible with me.\"\nI remember this story so much that I decided to call the book dedicated to Jehovah's Witnesses 'On People Who Never Part With the Bible.'\"\n","category":"opinions","date":"2015-06-01T14:00:00+03:00","duration":null,"image":{"jpg":"/news/2015/06/36/book-2-2_hu_907209051c1e579e.jpg","jpg2x":"/news/2015/06/36/book-2-2.jpg","webp":"/news/2015/06/36/book-2-2_hu_5ebdc69e041e24a4.webp","webp2x":"/news/2015/06/36/book-2-2_hu_44e584683c779eb4.webp"},"permalink":"/en/news/2015/06/36.html","regions":[],"subtitle":null,"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Ivanenko S. About people who never part with the Bible","type":"news"},{"body":"\nPage. 45\n«... I want to be understood correctly: no one obliges Jehovah's Witnesses to carry the Bible with them. It is not their religious duty. And perhaps some of them do not take the Bible with them in some cases. At the same time, the need to check one's actions against biblical principles and preach by appealing to the Bible is so significant for most of Jehovah's Witnesses that I personally have not yet been able to meet any of them without the Bible.\nA New Yorker told me that one day she left the house with a heavy bag and decided not to take the Bible with her. On the way, she struck up a conversation with a random interlocutor about understanding a Bible text and mentioned that she was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but now she did not have a Bible with her. \"You are not telling the truth,\" the man said, \"Jehovah's Witnesses never part with the Bible.\" \"I became very ashamed,\" the woman recalled, \"and now I always carry the Bible with me.\"\nI remember this story so much that I decided to call the book dedicated to Jehovah's Witnesses 'On People Who Never Part With the Bible.'\"\n","date":"2015-06-01T00:00:00Z","permalink":"/en/docs/4.html","regions":[],"tags":["scholar-publications"],"title":"Ivanenko S. About people who never part with the Bible","type":"docs"}]